Parties reject Chega investigation, Ventura accuses left of defending Costa

A possible parliamentary commission of inquiry proposed by Chega “to investigate the possible intervention of the prime minister” in the Banco de Portugal was rejected this Wednesday by a majority of parties, leading André Ventura to accuse the left of wanting to protect António Costa.

In a plenary debate on Chega’s proposal to set up a “possible commission of parliamentary inquiry to investigate the possible intervention of the Prime Minister in the autonomy of Banco de Portugal to protect the daughter of the President of Angola”, which would be “failed” in Friday’s vote, President Chega said that “this case there is everything, indeed everything, that needs to be investigated by this parliament.”

“The case that brought us here today is an absolutely unacceptable case of interference and political pressure from the government on the financial regulator,” he said, given that “Antonio Costa called the former governor of the Bank of Portugal to say that the daughter is a friend of the president, the daughter Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

From the PSD, MP Hugo Carneiro recalled that his bench sent a series of written questions to the prime minister that he would like answers to, and called on António Costa to respond and “not hide behind walls of silence”, defending that “the high office he exercises, and the responsibility he bears requires him to comply with the PSD and the Portuguese taxpayers.”

“We are not entering the market of commissions of inquiry, the PSD does not work that way, we must make thoughtful, serious decisions that are respected by the institutions. We hope that the Prime Minister also respects the institution of parliament and, in accordance with the opposition’s charter, the opportunity to answer the objective and specific questions we raise.

The Vice-Chairman of the Social Democratic Bench also stressed that “the PSD is the only opposition party that has the right to request a commission of inquiry” and warned that if António Costa does not answer, the Social Democrats “are free from the possibility of judging the lack of answers and facts that would be important to know.

Carlos Pereira, vice president of the PS judiciary, accused Chega of becoming “a kind of ball catcher for the Portuguese police” and of wanting to set up a commission of inquiry based “on speculation” and “on a book of small revenge by the former Governor of the Bank of Portugal”.

“The object of the commission of inquiry is itself a contradiction, because the one who removes Isabel dos Santos from the BPI is António Costa with the approved law.

BE MP Mariana Mortagua accused Chega of being “not interested” in effectively setting up a commission of inquiry, but only “wanting to make a number of his presentation.”

The blogger felt that “this proposal is not necessary for a commission of inquiry” whose purpose would be to investigate “a phone call between two individuals about which there are two versions that cannot be proven” and indicated that a commission of inquiry had already been held on Banif .

In the same vein, a single PAN member mentioned that “parliament had already done its due diligence” and that the former governor of Banco de Portugal had already been heard by parliament, but at the time “he did not complain about what he came here to say” in vol.

For the PCP, MP Duarte Alves also stated that “the tool of the commission of inquiry certainly does not serve to cover up the quarrels started by the former governor, who at the right time did not say anything.”

For his part, Livre’s sole deputy accused André Ventura of having “an innate difficulty in maintaining the same argumentation and the same story to the end”, and advised the Chega leader to form a “commission of inquiry with himself and choose a narrative, choose one and then come here and propose.”

In response, Chegi’s leader pointed out that “much more was expected of the SDP” than sending questions to the head of government, and accused the left of “rallying to defend Antonio Costa”, arguing that “Livre’s narrative for B.E. demonization of Carlos Costa for the sole purpose of protecting António Costa.”

The Liberal Initiative was the only party to support Chega’s proposal.

“Given all this history of interference and disrespect for the independence of the regulators in Portugal by the António Costa government, it is perfectly legitimate to wonder if this pattern of behavior extended to the specific BIC and Banif cases and therefore we will not do so. this parliamentary committee cannot conduct an investigation,” said Carlos Guimarães Pinto.